Engineering student Tommy Lehr demonstrates his prototype to judges during the March 4 pitch-off finale in the Student Innovation Center. Lehr took the top spot in the new idea category. Photos by Timothy Scheve/Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship.
Dylan Kline, business development director for the Ames Regional Economic Alliance, is no stranger to Iowa State's pitch-off finale, where students from every college compete for cash prizes for new and existing business ideas. Kline judged the past three finales and has seen the impact of Iowa State's commitment to innovation.
"It's great to see the innovation that is happening and the creativity that the students bring to it," Kline said. "Being impressed with what I see, I focus on how we can keep them in our region after they graduate from Iowa State."
Kline's job at the alliance entails attracting large industrial and commercial projects to the area to create capital investment in the region. He likes students' ability to turn ideas on paper into strong businesses.
"Given that students [in the contest] are coming from all over the university, I can see how entrepreneurship and innovation are being integrated into the landscape at Iowa State," he said. "It's evident to me that in their classes they are talking through what it means for a business to be legitimate and viable."
Kline said the quality of pitches improves each year. How students prepare to stand up in front of a group of judges will serve them well no matter what field they go into. With only 90 seconds to talk, students need a clear message on a subject the judges may not have a lot of knowledge about. The most obvious improvement comes from students who have taken part in the competition for multiple years, Kline said.
"One student talked about how it had gone from a very small business to having $100,000 in monthly sales," he said. "That is a legitimate revenue-producing business."
College of Health and Human Sciences' Elli Allen pitches her idea during the finale in the Student Innovation Center.
A successful pitch
Kline said for students with new ideas, one of the best ways to stand out is to show understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement of their idea. Differentiating from competitors is important.
"A judge inevitably is going to ask the question about viability, and if they can respond that they have done the market research and know what their idea is up against, that goes a long way," he said.
For existing businesses, Kline said students able to show a plan beyond a prototype and a few sales and who can articulate how they would scale up the business leave a strong impression. He said judging the winners and placers in each category has never been easy.
"Each judge puts up their favorite pitches and then we start talking about who gets first, second and third and it is a very challenging discussion," he said. "It really is razor-thin margins."
The finale
The eighth annual competition wrapped up March 4 with the finale in the Student Innovation Center. The top two placers from each college in each category -- new idea and existing business -- competed, and the winners in each category took home $5,000. Second-place finishers received $2,500 awards, third took $1,500 and five students received $500 honorable mention awards.
Finale placers:
New Idea
- First place: Tommy Lehr, College of Engineering, Big Dawg Cargo Kits
- Second place: Bradley Swan and Adam Rutecki, College of Engineering, Cygnet Scientific
- Third place: Spenser Leise, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Ashii
- Honorable mention (3): Becca Parker and Abigail Klauer, College of Health and Human Sciences, Vella Swim; Melika Ziba, College of Health and Human Sciences, Pill Ease; and Kyle Durst, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, C&D Beef Co.
Existing business
- First place: Boluwarin Ojo, College of Design, No-sparc
- Second place: Anders Otness, College of Engineering, North Star Scientific
- Third place: Jonathan Duron, College of Engineering, Tag Link
- Honorable mention (2): Ella Janssen, College of Design, GreenHouse; and Henry Shires, College of Engineering, Casmium LLC
